Letter 10065: Sir, the problem as to the status and cost of maintenance of children exposed at birth and then reared by others is...
Pliny the Younger→Trajan|c. 112 AD|Pliny the Younger|Human translated
imperial politics
To Trajan.
Sir, the problem as to the status and cost of maintenance of children exposed at birth and then reared by others is an important one which affects the whole province. After listening to the decrees of former emperors on the subject, and finding there was no general or particular rule relating to Bithynia, I thought I ought to consult you on the course you desire to be adopted. For I considered that I ought not to be satisfied with mere precedents in a matter that requires an authoritative expression of your will. I had read to me an edict reputed to have been issued by Augustus respecting (?) Andania, letters of Vespasian to the Lacedaemonians and of Titus to the same people and to the Achaians, and of Domitian to the proconsuls Avidius Nigrinus and Armenius Brocchus, and again to the people of Lacedaemon. I have not sent them on to you, because they seemed to me to be not altogether correct copies, and some appeared to be of doubtful authenticity, and because I imagine that the genuine and correct documents will be found in your archives.
L To Trajan.
Sir, the problem as to the status and cost of maintenance of children exposed at birth and then reared by others is an important one which affects the whole province. After listening to the decrees of former emperors on the subject, and finding there was no general or particular rule relating to Bithynia, I thought I ought to consult you on the course you desire to be adopted. For I considered that I ought not to be satisfied with mere precedents in a matter that requires an authoritative expression of your will. I had read to me an edict reputed to have been issued by Augustus respecting (?) Andania, letters of Vespasian to the Lacedaemonians and of Titus to the same people and to the Achaians, and of Domitian to the proconsuls Avidius Nigrinus and Armenius Brocchus, and again to the people of Lacedaemon. I have not sent them on to you, because they seemed to me to be not altogether correct copies, and some appeared to be of doubtful authenticity, and because I imagine that the genuine and correct documents will be found in your archives.
C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI
Magna, domine, et ad totam provinciam pertinens quaestio est de condicione et alimentis eorum, quos vocant 'threptous'. In qua ego auditis constitutionibus principum, quia nihil inveniebam aut proprium aut universale, quod ad Bithynos referretur, consulendum te existimavi, quid observari velles; neque putavi posse me in eo, quod auctoritatem tuam posceret, exemplis esse contentum. Recitabatur autem apud me edictum, quod dicebatur divi Augusti, ad Andaniam pertinens; recitatae et epistulae divi Vespasiani ad Lacedaemonios et divi Titi ad eosdem et Achaeos et Domitiani ad Avidium Tigrinum et Armenium Brocchum proconsules, item ad Lacedaemonios; quae ideo tibi non misi, quia et parum emendata et quaedam non certae fidei videbantur, et quia vera et emendata in scriniis tuis esse credebam.
◆
To Trajan.
Sir, the problem as to the status and cost of maintenance of children exposed at birth and then reared by others is an important one which affects the whole province. After listening to the decrees of former emperors on the subject, and finding there was no general or particular rule relating to Bithynia, I thought I ought to consult you on the course you desire to be adopted. For I considered that I ought not to be satisfied with mere precedents in a matter that requires an authoritative expression of your will. I had read to me an edict reputed to have been issued by Augustus respecting (?) Andania, letters of Vespasian to the Lacedaemonians and of Titus to the same people and to the Achaians, and of Domitian to the proconsuls Avidius Nigrinus and Armenius Brocchus, and again to the people of Lacedaemon. I have not sent them on to you, because they seemed to me to be not altogether correct copies, and some appeared to be of doubtful authenticity, and because I imagine that the genuine and correct documents will be found in your archives.
Human translation — Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI
Magna, domine, et ad totam provinciam pertinens quaestio est de condicione et alimentis eorum, quos vocant 'threptous'. In qua ego auditis constitutionibus principum, quia nihil inveniebam aut proprium aut universale, quod ad Bithynos referretur, consulendum te existimavi, quid observari velles; neque putavi posse me in eo, quod auctoritatem tuam posceret, exemplis esse contentum. Recitabatur autem apud me edictum, quod dicebatur divi Augusti, ad Andaniam pertinens; recitatae et epistulae divi Vespasiani ad Lacedaemonios et divi Titi ad eosdem et Achaeos et Domitiani ad Avidium Tigrinum et Armenium Brocchum proconsules, item ad Lacedaemonios; quae ideo tibi non misi, quia et parum emendata et quaedam non certae fidei videbantur, et quia vera et emendata in scriniis tuis esse credebam.